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In early October, Nikki Grimes wrote about the current state of YA literature on her blog, Nikki Sounds Off. In her post, she lamented the lack of originality in books being published for the young adult audience today. What she sees as a lack of originality, I see as the opportunity to ca$h in. So, for those of you that have it in mind to write the "it" novel, here is a DIY guide to getting it published. Think of it as a paint by numbers for writers. Good luck!

If you try it, let me know how it works.

The inklewriter lets you write as you play, branching the story with choices, and then linking those stories back together again. It keeps track of which paths you've finished, and which still need to be written. There's no set-up, no programming, no drawing diagrams. Just start writing and see where it takes you. Oh, and it's free to use. And once written, you can share your stories with whoever you like.

FROM THE SITE: The time is finally here for my annual list of favorite sites of the year.  This year, I decided to up my post to the top 100 instead of 25 due to the number of sites that I reviewed and due to the popularity of the post.  I tried to cover a wide range of sites, from flash card creators to digital storytelling and of course, social networks, which really shined in 2011.  I hope everybody enjoys the read and has as much fun reading it as I did creating it!

Does ability grouping - or tracking - enhance academic achievement? No, and research tells us that it is not a neutral or benign practice, either. Although it is widespread and widely accepted, ability grouping generally depresses student achievement and is harmful to kids.

"Sound Gecko is a free service that turns text articles into MP3 files. Using Sound Gecko you can take an article from a website, paste its URL into Sound Gecko, and then listen to a reading of that article. The conversion isn't instantaneous, but it is relatively quick. You do have to enter an email address in order to get the MP3 file. To remove the copy and paste part of the process you can install the Sound Gecko Chrome extension."

Search Tips 1. Keep it short. Think about the doc, what would the writer say? How would they talk about it? Try to match what will appear. 2. State the answer. Instead of "When was the plane crash" Write "The plane crashed on. . . " 3. Use unique words in search 4. Look at more than one result, don't just pick the first link. Browse the entire page of results. 5. Pay attention to the "Did you mean. . . "

"So a post on the Android and Me blog about the prototype Cotton Candy, what amounts to an Android flash drive that turns any screen into a computer, intrigued me today. Interesting features is that it works on any screen or device, both Windows and OSX, and works with bluetooth. By the way the price of Cotton Candy is expected to be around $200. But this part moves it beyond cool to perhaps a gamechanger!"

"Habits of Mind is knowing how to behave intelligently when you DON'T know the answer. It means having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known: dichotomies, dilemmas, enigmas and uncertainties. Our focus is on performance under challenging conditions that demand strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity, and craftsmanship. The critical attribute of intelligent human beings is not only having information, but also knowing how to act on it. Employing Habits of Mind requires drawing forth certain patterns of intellectual behavior that produce powerful results. They are a composite of many skills, attitudes and proclivities."

"As it turns out, Drive is much more than just a different name for where you used to store documents and spreadsheets. For example, did you know you can fax people documents and PDFs from Drive? Well, you can, and usually for free. You can also edit images in Aviary or Pixlr, send presentations to SlideRocket, and handle Microsoft Project files with Gantter."

These digital resources and tools for creating, collaborating, researching, and sharing can be found in the Common Core Curriculum Maps. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list, as the technologies are constantly evolving. Consider it a beginning!

A blog about search, search skills, teaching search, learning how to search, learning how to use Google effectively, learning how to do research. It also covers a good deal of sensemaking and information foraging.

JOG THE WEB is a web-based tool that allows anyone to create a synchronous guide to a series of web sites. Its step by step approach of taking viewers through web sites allowing the author to annotate and ask guiding questions for each page is unique.

Upload a document and the site creates a QR code that will be printed on the document, but could also be put on a website, that, when scanned, brings you to a webpage where you are prompted to download the document or send it by email.

Urtak is a free and simple polling service that can be used on any blog or website. The polls you create can have multiple questions, but they must be "yes or no" questions. But Urtak isn't that limited because visitors to your poll also have the option of writing in their own questions. Try it out for yourself in the poll I've embedded below.

"The theme of a piece of fiction is its view about life and how people behave."

Ginormous collection of EDtech resources!

I came across this opportunity, signed up myself, and want to share it with you! You get a free e-book (Nook/Kindle/and other formats) to review and are entered to win money or prizes. It is really a win-win situation, at the very least you get a free book!